Zoom vs Google Meet vs Skype vs Webex vs Jitsi vs BlueJeans: Which is best for you?

Zoom provides free high-quality video conferencing for up to 40 minutes per group meeting. With a Zoom Pro plan for $14.99 per month, you can host unlimited conferences with up to 100 participants (can be increased up to 1,000 with Large Meetings add-on which costs approximately $600 per year). The Pro plan also adds more features, such as cloud recording and streaming. More expensive Business plan enables recording transcripts, company branding, single sign-on and other enterprise features.

Even if you are using the free version of Zoom, you have a lot of settings to manage meeting participants and customize your conference. For instance, you can change or blur your background with a special setting, which makes it easier to work from home with a sense of privacy. For example, the background of your apartment can be replaced with a picturesque view of the virtual seaside.

With Google Meet, users can host and join online web meetings for free. However, there are some limitations you should be aware of when using the free version. You cannot hold a meeting for more than 1 hour a day, while the number of participants is limited to 100.

Google Meet allows free access to many useful tools such as live closed captions, desktop sharing, gallery view, and many others. However, some essential features, such as meeting recording, hand raise and breakout rooms are only available in paid plans.

Skype is perhaps one of the most popular video conferencing brands. Almost everyone has at least once used the free version of this program. For businesses and enterprises Microsoft has been offering Skype For Business, included in one of Microsoft Office 365 Business plans. Skype For Business provides video conferencing for up to 250 participants, call recording and anonymous polls. However, Skype For Business Online was discontinued on July 31, 2021, while Skype For Business Server will end mainstream support in 2024. Instead, users are encouraged to use the Microsoft Teams service instead, which, however, does not provide a lot of security and enterprise features Skype For Business used to.

Some other Skype features worth mentioning are:

• Integration with Outlook and other Microsoft apps.
• Shared workspace. Meeting participants can not only discuss the project, but also collaborate on documents and follow workflow progress.
• Up to 6 participants on screen.
• Host controls: if a presenter suddenly forgets to turn off the microphone or someone breaks the rules, the organizer can quickly fix it.
• VoIP telephony provides cost saving.
• Security. Skype features enhanced protection against hacker attacks.

Jitsi Meet is an open source WebRTC engine demo developed by 8X8 Inc. It provides free video meetings available from your browser. Jitsi does not provide desktop client apps, only mobile users can join a meeting from Jitsi app. Jitsi allows only 75 participants per meeting, which makes it an arguable choice for large-scale conferences.

If you're setting Jitsi on your server, you may require custom development and installation of additional software, which raises the need to hire an IT specialist. Finally, Jitsi may not be a good choice if you have unstable Internet connection: it’s very demanding in terms of system requirements and bandwidth.

Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based team collaboration software that comes with Microsoft 365 and Office 365 Suite. This platform is mainly designed for corporate messaging, calls, video meetings, and file sharing. With Microsoft Teams, you can host meetings for up to 300 users.

Microsoft Teams platform may have certain disadvantages, including confusing file structure, limited security options, poor meeting experience and adoption issues.

What will Microsoft Teams cost?

MS Teams tariffs start at $4.0 per user per month. It offers 5 different plans:

• MS Teams Essentials at $4/user/month.
• MS 365 Business Basic at $6/user/month.
• MS 365 Personal at $6.99/month.
• MS 365 Family at $9.99/month.
• MS 365 Business Standard at $12.50/user/month.

MS Teams also provides a free plan with limited functionality.

The free version of MS Teams is the less efficient. Even though you can meet with up to 100 people, there’s no chance to have the recordings of your meeting. You benefit from most chat/collaboration features, but no productivity applications, services or security & compliance features. It's an excellent solution if you just want some basic communication and collaboration features.

Bigger businesses can't accomplish much from the features provided by the free version alone as it is designed to meet much smaller work environments and tiny start-ups.

MS Teams Pricing if Your Business is Small.

Microsoft Teams Essentials can look attractive at only $4 per user/month, but its functionality and cloud storage won't even cover the smallest business needs. Essentials offers up to 10GB of OneDrive, versus 1TB for Business Basic. MS Essentials's plan also lacks capacity to record and transcribe meetings, real-time translation, chat rooms and whiteboard integration.

BigBlueButton is open-source video conferencing software. BigBlueButton's features may not be enough for business communication, as this solution is mainly designed for online training sessions. You can share audio, video, slide shows, and collaborate with students using the whiteboard, shared notes, polls, and chat. However, the software must be installed on an Ubuntu Linux server, and its deployment and ongoing maintenance requires an in-depth knowledge of this operating system.

Webex Meetings is a cloud-based video and content sharing solution that you can join via desktop, mobile or browser. With video meetings, file sharing and team messaging, this solution provides unified communications for any business, from small and medium-sized to enterprise level. Webex lets you organize conferences with up to 200 participants. Users also note the lack of the native application for Linux as a significant disadvantage.

The free version is only available for some countries and regions. If you need to schedule meetings over 50 minutes long or have access to additional Webex features, you should purchase the paid version.